David Byrne (28 April 1905 – 1 May 1990) was an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward. Nicknamed Babby as he was the youngest of 11 and born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, he joined

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

in 1926 and had four spells at

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developer ...

. He also played for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, Shelbourne,

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

and

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

. Byrne won three senior

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

making a scoring debut as a Shels player on 20 April 1929 in a 4–0 friendly win against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

. As a Rovers player he played against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the same venue on 13 December 1931. His last cap was as a Coleraine player in a World Cup qualifier against

, also at Dalymount, on 25 February 1934. He was top scorer in the League with 17 goals when Rovers went unbeaten capturing their third League Championship in 1926–27. This was his and the club's first season at

. He was Rovers' top scorer the following season and in his second spell in 1929–30 and 1930–31. In between, he had a spell with Shelbourne where he again finished top scorer with 15 goals in their second League winning season. He won four

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

medals in a row scoring in the finals in 1930, the 1931 replay, the 1933 final and replay. In all he scored 85 League and 13 FAI Cup goals for the Hoops. He is the sixth-highest goalscorer in Rovers' history. He was the last surviving member of the 1931–32 double winners. He was also the first

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

player to transfer to Manchester United and the first League of Ireland player to score 100 league goals. He transferred to

in October 1932. Despite impressing he was released due to economic pressures and returned to Milltown the following month. He joined Manchester United in September 1933 with fellow Irish player Billy Behan – the pair were the club's first Irish players for more than a decade. He scored on his debut for Manchester United on 21 October 1933 and scored a total of three goals in four league appearances. He also scored on his debut for Bradford City. Byrne is the only player to be capped for Ireland while playing for Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. He was surprisingly small (5 feet 5 inches in height) in an era of big centre forwards, yet he was a prolific goalscorer. He was fast, effective in the air as well as on the ground, and forced goalkeepers to make mistakes.

Honours

;Shamrock Rovers *

3 ** 1926–27, 1931–32 *

4 ** 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 * League of Ireland Shield 1 ** 1926–27 * Leinster Senior Cup 3 ** 1929, 1930, 1933 * LFA President's Cup 2 ** 1929–30, 1933–34 ;Shelbourne *

1 ** 1928–29 ;Individual * League of Ireland Top Scorer: ** 1926–27

References

;Bibliography * * Shels – A Grand Old Team to Know by Christopher Sands (9-780952-470717)

External links

Great Big Little Man
;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, David 1905 births 1990 deaths Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Irish Free State men's international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Shelbourne F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Larne F.C. players League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Irish Free State men's association footballers Men's association football forwards